Focus. Execute. Panic is Unhelpful.

The ability to control your reactions and execute under pressure is essential to successfully leading a startup.

My daughter and her husband gave me a fantastic Christmas gift this year:  my new favorite coffee mug (pictured on this post)!  I would like to share the story behind the advice engraved on its side, and its relation to leading startups.

Last year, my daughter, now a second-year medical student at Michigan State University College of Medicine, was studying for one of her innumerable exams. About 15 minutes before the exam began, she started feeling just a bit overwhelmed and sent me a worried text that she was starting to panic about whether her preparation was sufficient. She was hoping for a bit of reassurance and encouragement from her mom.  Something like “you’ll be fine, dear!” and “good luck!”

However, instead of my supportive-mom-heart, my CEO-brain took charge. It was a classic situation. She was past the point of no return. There was no time left for her to do anything other than buckle down and do the job ahead of her.  With that perspective in mind, I shot off a quick bit of advice via text:  “Focus. Execute. Panic is unhelpful.” A few hours later, the exam had passed – and our text conversation has become not only a mantra for my daughter in a variety of situations, but has also become her favorite way to characterize her mother to friends and peers.

This advice came to mind in that moment because it is advice I frequently apply as I build startup companies. As startup CEOs, we face situation after situation where the stakes are high, preparation time has run out, and there is nothing left to do except run the gauntlet ahead of you and your team to the best of your ability.  At that moment, as the boulder crests the hill and begins to roll, it is important not to panic, lose your cool, or get distracted. It is time to rally, banish distractions, and focus on the task at hand; whether you feel prepared and capable, or not.

When faced with a challenging high-pressure situation, this mantra can help remind you of the mental and emotional discipline required to lead in high stakes situations:

PANIC IS UNHELPFUL.

Under pressure, if you give into the sudden uncontrollable fear of panic, you not only risk the consequences of unleashing wild, unthinking behavior, but you also sacrifice the trust of your team and your ability to lead. Early in my career, when I was a management consultant leading teams, I did not always control my reactions when faced with bad news. Unfortunately, I quickly and unhappily learned that the best way to cripple my team was for me to panic because when I panicked, so did my team.

The first step in avoiding panic is to become aware of your own emotional reactions to pressure. Recognizing the rise of panic as it begins is essential in nipping it in the bud.  Emotional control is a skill that you can develop by applying it to progressively more difficult situations that you encounter.  Develop it in yourself – and in your teams – by identifying opportunities to practice reacting effectively to pressure and increasing your capacity over time. By staying in control, you will be able to use the skills, training, and knowledge you have built over the course of your career as you buckle down and push through when you need to.

Later, when leading a startup facing an existential threat from some of its investors, I felt the panic begin to rise. But now, I was able to shove it down, take a deep breath, and ask for a bit of time to find a workable solution. At that moment, it felt like there was a gun to my head, and yet, since I had spent the last decade practicing how to control my reactions to progressively more difficult situations, I was able to absorb the emotional energy and channel it into a productive response.

FOCUS.

Once you control your initial emotional reaction, remember your most important high-level goals and seek to understand the dimensions and facts of the problem that has arisen. What needs to happen? Break it down. Understand the possible consequences of different paths. Develop a plan. Focus on the essential parts and ignore the extraneous bits.

When I faced the existential threat to my startup, I had to let go of secondary goals and focus on what it would take to keep the financing from falling apart. I had to realize that taking a hit now would enable us to continue to build value, so it was better to compromise than to sacrifice our chance of continuing. I wish I could say that I only faced this near-death situation once in my startup CEO career, but that is not  true. I have faced that challenge repeatedly and across different startups. Focusing on what we can control and what can build company value has helped me find my way through these crises and keep going.

EXECUTE.

When the high stakes moments come,  first managing your reaction and quickly developing a plan is essential. Then comes the time to act. You must recognize when the time for preparation has ended and the time for execution is upon you. 

Sometimes this is just a matter of time passing.  There is always more you could do for most things, but when preparation time runs out, you are as ready as you will be, and now you need to deliver the sales pitch, negotiate the deal, persuade the other party, or whatever the task at hand is. Crossing that line from planning to execution is also a practiced response – for you and your team.

If there is no externally determined time, you will need to recognize that you have done enough and prepared enough for the risks you are taking. Taking longer will cause the risks to begin to grow. As CEO, the time has come for you to step up and lead the best way you can with what you have at your disposal at that moment. Now it is time to execute your plan and solve the problem.

While it is important to be able to handle pressure personally, it is also important to be able to develop the capacity in your team. Startups inevitably run into pressure situations, so it is important to develop your ability to lead well under pressure and your team’s ability to react well under pressure. As a CEO, you are the leader that everyone will look to when it all seems to be falling apart. Holding that center requires trust built up over time, so when a high-pressure situation arises, your team can execute with confidence knowing that you are not panicking and are performing to your fullest capacity.

Special thanks to my daughter, Kerrigan Lemoine, for giving her permission for me to share this story – and for my new favorite coffee mug!